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Chelsea FC- 5 Potential Star Strikers 2017/18

Romelu Lukaku looked to have stunned Chelsea FC by snubbing their advances to sign for The blue and instead join up with former boss Jose Mourinho at Manchester United instead. Lukaku appears to have been Antonio Contes first choice target in the transfer window and now the blues are in the predicament as where they need to look at alternative options at the striker position seeing as the blues star man Diego Costa looks to be heading out the door at Stamford Bridge. However, a quality front man is hard to come by so trying to pluck a player from another top team will cost a pretty penny and will surely see Chelsea break their current transfer record of £50million for Fernando Torres back in 2011. For the blues sake hopefully a situation like that wont happen again. With this all being said, we are now going to look at 5 potential striker options the blues could look in to for next season to fill the huge void looking to be left by Diego Costa.

Alvaro Morata

The 24 year old Real Madrid star looks to be next on the list of successors to Diego Costa at Chelsea. The Spaniard had his most prolific season in front of goal last season after scoring 15 goals in La Liga last season, most of which were off of the bench. Morata had a goal to game ratio of 88.7 which is phenomenal. His physical presence and speed has a big influence on games and would be able to play as a traditional big front man for the blues or he could take the ball deep and run with it and create goals from there. Players like Hazard and Pedro would benefit from the quality link up play that Morata provides and last season contributed with 4 assists and had a pass completion rate of 79%. However, the main question over the youngster is his experience. Through his spells at Real Madrid and Juventus he hadn’t received as much game time as fans would have wanted to see. Also his goal scoring record has never shown outstanding numbers. This season was his first season scoring more than 15 goals. The asking price for the Galactico is expected to be around £75million, and it appears likely that Chelsea will likely match it.

Andrea Belotti

The Italian goal machine has a £90million release clause in his Torino contract, and it looks as though Chelsea may be willing to pay the fee for the player. Belotti had his break out year last year in the Serie A scoring 26 goals and registering 7 assists. With an Italian link to Antonio Conte, the player has a lot of qualities that the blues manager likes. Belotti likes to get involved in play and works hard off the ball, making runs through the channels and also breaking up play from opposition defenses. Not a conventional frontman, Belotti is a real poacher who keeps defenders on their toes when he is dancing around the six yard box. There are questions surrounding Belotti however, the 23 year old has only really had one stand out year and there is the worry that he could be a one season wonder. Blues fans certainly don’t want another Fernando Torres on their hands. But after speaking to fans of Italian football, it fills me with confidence that Belotti has shown enough quality in the short space of time to show that he could be (under the guidance of Antonio Conte) one of the most deadly strikers in Europe.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

The Gabonese speedster lit up the Bundesliga last year after scoring 31 goals in as many games and winning the golden boot. Aubameyang has become the first foreign player in Bundesliga history to total that goal tally in a single season. An even more incredible fact is that all of those goals were scored inside the 16 yard box. A clinical finisher, Aubameyang would be an impressive acquisition for Chelsea. Although the player would cost up to £60 million, the 28 year olds fee can be seen as reasonable as the players skill sets would adapt well in to the premier league. Hes tall, strong and incredibly fast. With a player like Cesc Fabregas providing balls to the striker it just screams goals.

The current Dortmund player has aroused interest from some of Europes top teams. Namely PSG and AC Milan, but Chelsea should look to act fast if they want to sign the player because someone of Aubameyangs quality wont stay on the market for long. Its a long shot for the player to be brought in to the Bridge but when the possibility arises, Abramovic must get the cheque book out to add that star quality to his club. The speed of Aubameyang, Pedro and Hazard up front will leave defenses shaking in their boots.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Now this pick is a little out the box. The big Swede had a very productive season last year for Manchester United before his injury. The big front man scored 28 goals in all competitions last year and won United numerous games single handedly. He’s a physically imposing force up front and his 6’5 frame gives defenders a lot to deal with. Talented at finishing with his head and both feet, Zlatan is an out and out striker that has been performing at the top level of European football for the best part of a decade. At the age of 35 he would not be a signing for the future but he does have a experience and quality required in a champions league and domestic cup run. He is assured to get you at least 15 goals a season and the past season proves he can compete in the physically challenging English Premier League. A downside to Ibrahimovic is that he is still currently recovering from a long term injury, and at his age he now does not have much playing time left in him. However, there may be no resale value for a player like Ibrahimovic but the magic in this transfer is that he wouldn’t cost a penny. Only his wages would need to be accounted for. Chelsea have recently done something similar when they took Falcao on loan. That deal didn’t work out too well for Chelsea after Falcao only managed 1 goal for the blues. But lets not kid ourselves, Ibra is certainly no Falcao.

Michy Batshuayi

Why don’t Chelsea look to strengthen their starting XI from within? Batshuayi sparkled for the blues in small bursts last season after his £33million transfer from Marseille back in the summer of 2016. The player has obvious quality to see. He’s an imposing threat who also has the pace to run in behind defenses and latch on to balls over the top. The Belgian scored 5 premier league goals last season after only starting 1 game and he even scored the winner against West Brom, sealing the premier league title for the blues. He wouldn’t cost anything as he is already on the roster and at 23 years of age he has time to be molded into the type of player that can excel in the Premier League for years to come. The only issue is that Conte does not seem to favor the youngster. But he does have time to turn those thoughts around and hopefully Chelsea do not intend to offload Batshuayi as I feel they could have another Lukaku scenario on their hands, and now we all know how that turned out, don’t we.

So that’s my list of the 5 players I believe could fill the number 9 position for Chelsea next season. What do you make of these decisions? and who do you think Chelsea should play up front next year. Either comment down below or send me a message on twitter.